Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Here’s an excellent example of the importance of responding to a Social Media crisis before it is too late. On December 19th, 2011, a YouTube user (username “goobie55″) uploaded video of a FedEx delivery person throwing a video monitor into his/her yard.

This YouTube video has created a Social Media storm of sorts and as I write this post, it has been viewed 3,576,412 times for this one YouTube post alone. I have seen it on my local TV news too here in Dallas, Texas.

Well, before it was too late (remember United Breaks Guitars YouTube video), FedEx posted its own response to customer’s video with the following statement by Matthew Thornton III, Senior Vice President, US Operations, FedEx Express:

“Along with many of you, we’ve seen the video showing one of our couriers carelessly and improperly delivering a package the other day. As the leader of our pickup and delivery operations across America, I want you to know that I was upset, embarrassed, and very sorry for our customer’s poor experience. This goes directly against everything we have always taught our people and expect of them. It was just very disappointing.”

(YouTube video response by FedEx embedded below):

This incident of Social Media brand crisis underscores the importance of having a Social Media Crisis Management Plan. It should clearly highlight roles and responsibilities, procedure and protocols to be followed in the event of a brand crisis. Because the first step in solving any crisis is to identify and respond to it, and respond FAST when it comes to Social Media as FedEx seems to have done here. What do you think?